Reinventing apprenticeship assessment in the wake of reform

Changes announced by government last February represent the most significant reform of apprenticeship assessment for a decade. One year on, it is timely to reflect on these: how assessment organisations, training providers and employers respond to and implement the reforms will be in many ways more significant than the reforms themselves.

Our report for the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, published in December, considered the reforms and their implications at length,based on interviews and insights from key players across the sector. People wespoke with through our research felt that the proposed reforms introducevaluable flexibility but carry significant risks. Greater variation in when,how and by whom assessment is delivered may create inconsistency, especiallywith very short, high-level assessment plans that can be interpreted differently and offer limited clarity to apprentices and employers. Allowing providers and employers to assess elements of the apprenticeship could weaken independence, while moving some assessment on-programme risks reducing synopticity and the holistic judgement of competence. These risks are manageable but real, and require government and the sector to implement reforms thoughtfully, but innovatively.

There are certain key features of apprenticeship assessment that will need to be preserved or built out to effectively seize these opportunities and mitigate these risks. But developing assessments, at scale and at pace, that deliver these features is a significant challenge for a sector also preparing for V Levels, new Level 2 pathways and apprenticeship units.

In the past that challenge might have seemed insurmountable, with government rollout expectations, or product and delivery quality, suffering. Or both. But we think this challenge can now be met by rigorous research and analysis, powered by sensitive, human-led deployment of AI, to define assessment strategies.

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Effective apprenticeship assessment should embed the following characteristics:

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· The right assessment methods:

Assessment plans will set out one method which must be used in all assessments on that standard. But beyond that assessment organisations have discretion about what additional methods (if any) should be used. This is the single biggest design decision and getting it right, showing that assessments reflect the most valid means of assessing the knowledge and skills in the standard, will be fundamental both to stakeholder confidence and regulatory compliance. But assessment organisations also need to effectively weigh up the ability of different methods to deliver synoptic assessment, and the opportunity to capture authentic exhibition of competence at different points in the apprenticeship.

· An intelligent approach to sampling, including use of technology to determine this:

Assessment plans stipulate knowledge and skill statements which must be assessed in every assessment. The remaining will require sampling. Effective assessment approaches will need to robustly map these to assessment methods, ensure the sampling approach facilitates synoptic assessment by assessing knowledge and skills in integrated ways, and leads to assessment of comparable depth and rigour between apprentices.

· Making choices about methods, sampling and tasks that provide holistic and synoptic assessment:

Providing robust assessment of occupational competence requires that apprentices are tested holistically on their ability to put what they have learnt together, rather than assessing individual knowledge and skills components in an atomised way. Assessment organisations will need to take decisions about methods; sequencing/timing; and how non-mandatory assessment outcomes are stacked alongside mandatory outcomes with the aim of synopticity in mind. Synoptic assessment also requires the designing of authentic, integrated assessment tasks, and fuller, more complex guidance for assessors to ensure the integration of knowledge and skills is assessed reliably and consistently.

· Maintaining independence even where the reforms don’t require it:

Reformed apprenticeship assessments do not require all assessment to be delivered and marked by the assessment organisation, allowing providers to deliver some themselves. This practice will necessitate robust quality assurance processes and practice. But assessment organisations will need intheir assessment design to consider what methods, or parts of methods, should routinely be assessed in centres, how to maximise the availability of genuinely independent assessors, and what guidance and training should be provided to assessors, including centre staff.

· Appropriate and robust QA of providers:

Provider delivery and marking of some assessment requires robust quality assurance.Assessment organisations have not required EQA to date in EPA (though they doin other qualifications). This will entail a variety of activity including: standardisation; moderation of marked assessments; audits, data reviews and observations of assessment; responding to malpractice/reporting to Ofqual as appropriate.

· Ambitious but safe use of technology:

The original announcement of assessment reforms cited best use of technology in assessment as an aim of the reforms. But very little of what Ofqual or Skills England has subsequently published engages with this aspect. Assessment organisations should consider effective and safe use of technology and digital tools in their assessment methods including use of digital evidence collection, online testing or remote observations. Assessment organisations will need to consider the authenticity and security of digital assessments, as well as the accessibility implications.

· Consideration of behaviours:

Behaviours are not now formally assessed through apprenticeship assessment, instead they should be signed off by employers. It is not clear when or how this should happen as the change from assessment only at the end of the apprenticeship removes the employer ‘gateway’ which would have provided the obvious point and vehicle forconfirming behaviours. Assessment organisations may need to provide guidance to employers on how to robustly verify behaviours and consider how they will treat those behaviours in their own assessments.

· Grounding in the labour market for employer validity:

Ofqual will require Assessment organisations to demonstrate employer support for apprenticeship assessments in the way they do with other qualifications –this is likely to be light touch given this has substantively been provided bythe trailblazer process. The education sector has often been rather dismissive of employer involvement in assessment design. But reaction to the new approaches in construction show the levels of employer interest in assessment design and the criticality of delivering assessment they perceive as robust and sector-appropriate. That means authentic assessments that test the knowledge and skills apprentices really need in real-world settings.

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How can we make that happen?

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Doing that at the scale and pace that government timescales require needs assessment organisations to think differently about their processes and practices.

That’s why we've launch Project Shybird, through which we’re building an AI-powered solution that will enable us to develop new qualifications in hours, and enable educators to create programmes, resources, and personalisation at pace, to incredibly high standards. Our founder, Matt Hamnett, has written about the full potential we see for this tool here.

For assessment organisations grappling with the challenges of apprenticeship assessment reform, the level and rigour of research and analysis this approach will apply to the definition of assessment strategies is hugely powerful. And by taking robust, consistent, decisions on assessment methods we drive the validity of outcomes, to the benefit of apprentices and employers.

2026 will be a year of transition as providers, assessment organisations and employers adapt their strategies, operating models and materials to deliver the reforms announced last year. Getting that all right will realise significant benefits in apprenticeship assessment for apprentices, employers and training providers. Using this opportunity to reinvent assessment design processes could also make this a transformation opportunity for assessment organisations.